Dumb question but need to ask...

Damage Inc · 21 Jun 2006 at 21:20

Im looking to get a 19" flatscreen. i can choose between a 4:3 19" and a Widescreen 19".

On a 4:3 flatscreen the diagonal to diagonal is 19". What will the diagonal be on a Widescreen 19"? is it 19"? in which case you are losing a lot of height right? Just trying to think this through.

So how do folks find this when playing a game like say Doom3? Do you loose the top and bottom of the pic or does the game squeesing it in and you end up with short and fat bad guys? or do you play it in a "square" and have black bars are either side that arent used?

Im sure this is daft but i dont have any experience and dont want to make a purchase mistake.

Dam.

k3v · 21 Jun 2006 at 21:28

you don't have to lose anything, just use a widescreen resolution that suits the monitor...sorry not very well explained.. my battery is going to die real soon

fish99 · 21 Jun 2006 at 21:33

If the game supports widescreen resolutions, then you see the same thing you would on a 4:3 screen (only smaller) and then you see a bit extra on either side. You don't miss anything vertically, but the vertical height is of course quite a bit smaller.

If the game doesn't support widescreen resolutions, then you either get horizontally stretched, or black bars on either side, or a choice of both, depending on which monitor you have.

The diagonal size is 19" in both cases.

k3v · 21 Jun 2006 at 21:39

that's what I should have said, lol a much better explanation!

Damage Inc · 22 Jun 2006 at 11:40

Cheers for the replies guys, appreciated.

So have any of you got Widescreen flat panels and if so how "supported" is the format amongst modern games? Are you wishing you had a 19" square or do you find the widescreen is well supported and is a good buy?

Essentially i would like one but dont want to get one if im going to be forever playing on a 16" square within my widescreen

Dam.

BubbySoup · 22 Jun 2006 at 11:58

Almost all new games have support for widescreen and a lot that do not, can be forced to do so.

Have a look here and read the forums - a lot of your questions will be answered.

Once you go widescreen, you never go back!

jamena · 23 Jun 2006 at 10:41

in some games you DO lose the top and bottom but tbh you won't really notice it. BF2 is one game like this - you know, the extra peripheral vision might give you an advantage so instead you lose the top and bottom and get slightly zoomed in. Unfortunately I couldn't make it run at anything other than 1680x1050 the other day so my graphics card was (so to speak) coughing up blood, but generally it's great. For everything else it's fantastic - yuo can have a document open for editing and another alongside, or an image editor alongside so copy/paste/etc makes creating stuff better. The other benefit is that the dot pitch on a 20" wisdescreen at 1680x1050 is better than a 19" normal at 1280x1024 and is closer to that of a 17" normal at 1280x1024